


the worries that refuse to let us go

by calebwidogast



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: M/M, but i dont want anyone reading this to think i dont know these two are not straight, technically pre-ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24630985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calebwidogast/pseuds/calebwidogast
Summary: who would i be if i didnt write a nightmare fic for whatever fandom im currently in?takes place the evening after they all visit iroh's tea shop in the finale.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 116





	the worries that refuse to let us go

azula lunged toward him, staggering halfway through the motion, her eyes alight and unfamiliar. static began gathering around her hand as she swept it forward in front of her, lightning sparking into life before the motion was complete. the sound of it filled his ears and he breathed deeply as he replanted his feet, readying himself to redirect it.

zuko knew how this story needed to end.

the lightning streaked toward him as if in slow-motion, and he caught it and directed it right back at azula. almost supernaturally fast, she was out of the way, charging back up to send another bolt at him. her eyes darted up and her grin grew wider, wilder, at whatever it was that she had seen. he looked away despite himself and behind him, watching, stood his father, his eyes unreadable.

this wasn’t right- this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. something was wrong, and he sidestepped and angled himself to keep them both in view as the space around his father’s hand swirled with electricity, buzzing loudly in his ears.

both of them attacked at once, and the sound split the air as zuko’s breath caught in fear.

he startled awake, tangled so badly in his blanket that he couldn’t move his arms. the room was dark, and the storm outside made it harder than usual for him to get his bearings. he let himself lay wrapped in his blanket as he put the pieces in place.

it was storming. it was the end of summer. ozai had been defeated. zuko was now the firelord. he was at uncle’s home in ba sing se- the smell of tea hit him and he felt his heart rate slow just slightly. he was meeting up with team avatar again. he let out a shaky breath as he remembered the evening they’d spent together in the jasmine dragon. they would all be here a few days, to help as they were needed in ba sing se, though zuko was due home to continue reparations there ‘as soon as possible.’ it was a daunting thought, and his heart rate picked up again as he pondered it and lightning flashed through the curtain, a peal of thunder only a few seconds behind it.

he still felt the dream-lightning jolting through him, and brought his hand to his eye to scrub the image of it out, but his father’s face, near expressionless yet still so furious, still swam there. azula’s desperate, broken voice rang in his ears.

suddenly, he was aware of a footstep right outside his door- on his blind side, of course, why did the door have to be on that side of the bed- and he attempted to jolt upright before being pulled back by his entanglement of blankets. he let out a panicked noise, something embarrassing between a whimper and a growl, as the door opened. he had just ripped his arms free when he saw sokka in the doorway, eyes wide, one hand up in a ‘sorry, just me’ gesture.

“ _ what _ ?” zuko snarled before he could stop himself, panic still ensnaring him.

“i heard- are you alright? i thought…” sokka began, his eyes darting past zuko to the window across from the door, then back to zuko. “y’know, dai li, or… something…” he trailed off.

zuko felt more embarrassed the longer sokka stood there with the door cracked, peeking in at him trapped in blankets and near tears. he wanted to snap at sokka again, but took a shaky breath and said in his most even tone, “i can handle myself. especially because nothing happened.” he gestured with his newly freed arm to the closed window, and then winced- his injury still ached.

sokka, shoeless and pajamaed and holding his boomerang, his leg still bandaged to keep it straight, looked over zuko, taking in his state. “...right.”

“oh, like you’re any better.” zuko snapped, glad for sokka’s seemingly innate ability to break any tension. he took another grounding breath, suddenly glad for the distraction as his eyes stopped stinging, but winced again when he breathed too deeply. he brought his hand to his chest, letting his breath out slowly.

sokka’s eyes followed and zuko cursed himself for drawing attention to it in the first place as sokka asked, “did that wake you?”

in his mind, he saw them both again, lightning charging around their hands, knowing he couldn’t redirect them both at once. “no.”

of course, sokka squinted at his tone of voice, and before zuko could argue, he slid inside and clicked the door quietly shut behind him. he pointed and said, “you know, you’re a terrible liar. you should quit thinking it’s gonna get you anywhere.”

zuko huffed. “i’m- it didn’t!”  _ technically, _ it wasn’t the wound itself, though now that he was awake and moving it ached. “and you don’t know that. i’m a great liar- i’m not lying now, but you wouldn’t know if i was.”

“you can, like, ask katara for a little bit of healing, you know.” sokka pointed out instead of calling his bluff again, stepping forward to sit on the end of the bed. zuko was reminded distantly of what seemed like so long ago, sokka sitting on the end of his bed in the western air temple after they had returned from the boiling rock, both of them still wired and too full of energy to sleep. they’d ended up joining everyone around the fire a long time after midnight, sokka insisting he was cold inside but still wanted to carry on their conversation.

“earth to zuko?” sokka said, breaking zuko out of his thoughts again, the sound of rain fuzzing back into focus. “did you hear me? we both know she’s over wanting you dead, right?”

shaking his head, zuko said, “i know that.” he knew, at least as far as he could tell, that he had earned katara’s trust the day of sozin’s comet, if not earlier.

“so… why haven’t you talked to her about it?” sokka asked, leaning back onto his elbows and looking over at zuko.

zuko shrugged. “you- you know, just… lots to do. we’ve all been busy.” he looked at sokka and wilted under the look shot his way. “alright, i’ll ask tomorrow.”

“good!” sokka nodded. “you can come with me when she helps me with my leg.”

another flash of lightning and crack of thunder in quick succession.

“okay.” zuko nodded. he let his hand drop from his wound and rest on the bed beside him, trying to ignore the way that thinking of katara made him remember the agni kai again. to shake himself free of the thought, he scrubbed his good eye with the heel of his hand.

he glanced back up to find sokka looking at him, his face some mix of emotions zuko couldn’t figure out. “what?”

sokka said, “i know you didn’t sleep a lot before, but c’mon. i was trying to be polite and not say anything but… look at you.”

zuko’s mouth fell open in surprise. “wh- what about me?”

“you’re exhausted, clearly. it doesn’t look like you’ve slept since before sozin’s comet, and since i know you aren’t going to realize it until i say it, i can tell the injury isn’t the  _ only _ reason you’re awake. what were you dreaming about?”

whatever look he shot in sokka’s direction clearly wasn’t as sharp as he had been going for, because all it did was make sokka’s eyebrows pinch up in concern. he was about to respond when another strike of lightning hit somewhere close by, the accompanying boom of thunder nearly instantaneous. his reply died in his throat.

sokka sighed, “oh.” and zuko could see the pity on his face.

“don’t.” zuko snapped.

sokka began, “zuko-”

“i said,  _ don’t _ .” zuko cut in.

“alright, alright! i’m not gonna make you talk about it.” sokka said, holding his hands up again to signal his giving in. “but you can’t make me leave, so i’m keeping you company.”

zuko’s good eye narrowed. “you remember i’m the firelord now, right?”

“oh, yeah, and you’re gonna muscle me out with the power of the royal guards of… your uncle’s house?” sokka deadpanned.

“ass.” zuko sighed, and then rolled over to the far side of the bed, ignoring the way his chest stung with the motion. “well, at least stay on that side so i can’t see you.”

sokka let out a wounded little breath, and zuko didn’t have to turn to know he was shaking his head as he said, “the universe bestows me upon you and you just keep taking it for granted.”

“that’s right.”

it took zuko’s full concentration not to let his breath become unsteady again when there was another flash of lightning outside.

sokka crossed his field of vision again, falling backward across the end of the bed and flopping partly onto zuko’s legs with a huff.

“that doesn’t look like ‘staying on your side’ to me.” zuko pointed out.

he just shrugged, one of his shoulders digging into zuko’s ankle. “too bad.”

it was more annoying to admit that he wasn’t really all that annoyed. zuko jostled his leg around to bump sokka and said, “move, if you care so much about me getting my rest.”

sokka mumbled something that sounded like ‘thinks he’s cool now’, but sat back up and turned to flop down on the empty side of the bed zuko had just rolled away from, now perfectly out of his line of sight.

zuko closed his eyes and listened to the rain coming down outside, halfway preparing himself for another flash that would show through his eyelid and the thunder that followed.

instead, sokka spoke. “just, y’know, talking about how you’re feeling is g-”

“ _ sokka! _ ” zuko said, his eye snapping open again.

“alright! okay! i’m just saying, if you go crazy firelord on us because you won’t tell anyone about how you’re feeling, that’s not on me anymore, i tried.” sokka said, and to zuko it seemed like he was only half joking.

of course he was terrified he might become just as terrible as his lineage seemed to suggest he was pretty likely to. he turned to look at sokka, furrowing his brow, unable to come up with anything to say.

sokka met his gaze and zuko felt overwhelmed by it, so he looked a little past sokka as he replied to zuko’s glare, “i know you’re like, a reasonable dude, so it’s not gonna happen. but it still helps to talk about shit.”

“i really, really don’t want to.” zuko said. “especially not-” as if to prove his point, there was another flash, accompanied by a rumble of thunder. “-with this happening.”

“okay.” sokka nodded, finally, and didn’t seem like he was going to press the issue again.

zuko stayed facing him a moment, then turned on his back again and put one hand to his chest, which he’d forgotten for a moment was still aching. “thanks for checking on me, though.”

“oh, don’t get all sappy on me  _ now _ .” sokka groaned, and zuko couldn’t help but chuckle in response.

**Author's Note:**

> fic title from snakes by bastille.


End file.
